How do you pick names for characters?
Ha, I don't really. I tend to make up names and if I like it and it sort of suits the character, it will stick.
On occasion, if playing a game or watching a movie, I might steal the name. The blacksmith Dwynn in FT2 was the name of a cowardly dwarf in the game Dragon Age: Origins, I chose Dwynn for the blacksmith because dwarfs by lore are supposed to be brilliant craftsmen.
And Jareth, his name is also the name of the Goblin king from the film Labyrinth.
I don't steal names often though, I think I have stolen maybe four or five.
Then there are names like Ferenc which have hidden meanings. Ferenc is old Iclandic for franc, which is another name for French, nobody likes the French and nobody like Ferenc.
There are some based on mythological lore like Lorelei, Bahamut etc, but I didn't really want to change their names as I want it to be a homage to these great mythological beings.
Why did you choose to use fairytale creatures over the regular fantasy races (elf, dwarf etc)
Because I wanted to do something different. Everything fantasy seems to focus on these. Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, Tolkien and many more. It's cliché.
I must admit, I've used goblins and trolls, but I have twisted them, the goblins aren't ugly evil creatures, they're now intelligent and civil and the trolls whilst still being seen as barbaric are also intelligent and they too show signs of civility.
Also, I love faeries and fairytales, and the original poem Faerie-Tale is based on was about a faerie, so it only made sense to keep it as such.
What the hell were the dreams about in the first book?
Sadly I can't answer this as it will be revealed during The Enchantment War.
I will tell you this though, when I was writing them in, they served no real purpose and I kinda hoped their reason would manifest itself. It wasn't until I really started planning the second book that I figured out what they are.
Originally though, they were to represent Elloria's drive to keep moving forward, a figment of her imagination only, though the necklace she is gifted says otherwise, but I had always given myself a scapegoat to that with the fact she was drowning and could have subliminally grabbed it from the river bed.
Will you try to outdo book 1s dragon fight?
Oh yes! I got an idea about this last year, and it's pretty kick-ass, again I can't say nothing of it as it will spoil the event.
Is Elloria actually scared of anything?
You mean aside from shadow monsters than hunt her through a forest? Yes, she's not fond of insects but she is absolutely terrified of spiders. This is evident in Dark Day woods of the first book and I shall be using a similar setup in FT2 and turing it up to 11.
Will you be resuming writing chronicles any time soon?
Yes. As soon as I've finished the edit of the first book, I shall get back to writing The Dematri'aan Chronicles
I've always wondered what keeps you going? What pushes you to keep on writing?
Good question as I actually have no real intention of publishing it.
I guess the answer is that's its now such a big part of my life that it's almost habitual, but I also need to get the story out of my head. My noodle is constantly thinking about Faerie-Tale, but once it's over, I'll be free of its grip.
Are the any hidden metaphors/messages?
Not that I'm aware of.
Metaphors, definitely not, though if it were published, some prick could maybe think that Elloria's pink dress is representative of her innocence and as time goes on, her dress becomes filthy, ragged and stained, indicating a loss of innocence.
Bollocks pal, her dress is pink, end of!
As for a meaning, I guess the only suitable one would be that sometimes it's better to dream as the reality may be a nightmare instead.
How did u come come up with the name Elloria?
it's a beautiful name!
Thanks.
Believe it or not, its origin comes from this chick.
Her name is Ellie Dibble. Back in 2007/2008 she used to be a host on a late night phone in quiz show called Pop the Q.
I was actually addicted to this, I'd watch it every night from midnight to 4am.
One night as I was planning Faerie-Tale, she referenced herself as Ellie D.
I remember saying it to myself and thinking it sounded like quite a nice name and wrote it down in my note book as Elliedee.
When I first starting writing Faerie-Tale, I used that name, which then soon became Elladee, but it didn't quite sound right and I was reading up on Greek mythology and came across Rhea, mother of Zues.
I toyed around with the name, switched the spelling and it became Ellaria. It still didn't look right, so I changed the middle 'a' to an 'o', Elloria was born.
There are still throwbacks to the Elladee name as her mother in the prequel and her sisters sometimes refer to her as Ellie and/or Ella.
Have you ever thought of expanding the world once you have finished the trilogy?
Actually I have.
I've got ideas for a prequel which I've outlined before as Wasteland, but I wouldn't mind also exploring other aspects of ariy'aan, its history etc.
Once the trilogy is finished, that's it for Elloria, her story is over and she won't be seen again as a character. Maybe referenced depending on the time-line of the spin-off story but other than that, she'll be retired.
Just how many of your characters are loosely based on family and people you know?
The three sisters are loosely based around me and my sisters, their mannerisms and the way they carry conversation is based off of the ones I share with my family.
But Serra, my closest friend is also the basis for Elloria's darker side, other than that all characters are based on the personality traits I give them.
Do you pre-plan your stories? If so, how?
Yes, I write notes. I normally have a large scale overview of what I want to do with the story, FT1 was cross the forest, FT2 is retrieve the Sorceress sword and FT3 is dethrone the empress.
Once I have this in mind, I start thinking of what I call set-pieces. Large events that serve as plot markers, from there I plan smaller events that will happen between the large events and in between those, I make it up and work off of notes that just are, they have no relevance, they're mainly just awesome shit that has no real place.
That's pretty much how I plan my stories.
FT3 is supposed to be set 2000yrs after FT2, was this always the plan?
Yes and no.
Originally Faerie-Tale was to be set in the 1400's, it was going to be a story about why there are no more enchanted creatures., FT3 was going to be set in the present day and basically be a mirror of FT1, which would be that of a human obsessed with Faerie's goes on a search for the "lost" fae kingdom of Dematria. The human would eventually find the kingdom and in turn meet a very bitter and resentful 600yr old Elloria who would without question send the human to execution.
Unfortunately, the historical time-line for what I wanted didn't match, mainly in terms of technology, so I decided to move FT to a post apocalyptic future 200'000yrs later. This also gave rise to the mutation origin of the Enchants.
This also meant that I had to change FT3 as I could no longer keep my original idea, but this is also when I decided to set it in an advanced future which will greatly contrast the first two books, but still keep the same spirit.
How the hell have you still got such a imagination to be able to write such stuff at your age?
Because I enjoy such things, because I don't have to act "mature" around my friends to win their approval like with most people my age and because I just have a very active imagination with a lot of imaginative stimuli.
How did you originally come up with the story?
Originally, I had this image of a bunch of Faeries riding into battles on unicorns.
This is The Enchantment War. Then I started asking myself the question, why are they at war?
I pondered about this and in the meantime wrote this poem.
I then decided to turn this poem into an epic poem, then decided to turn it into a full novel (with some drastic but necessary changes), though the ending was originally different and didn't lead to a sequel, when I changed the ending, I thought back to that vision and connected the two.
What have been your biggest influences?
Alice in Wonderland and Labyrinth are my main influences for the first book, the games Dragon Age: Origins and God of War II are my main influences for the second and Ghost in the Shell: The Stand Alone Complex and Mass Effect 2 are my main influence for the third and all three have influence from the Tomb Raider series of games.
Whats your preferred environment for writing?
Either in my office, with no distractions and music that has specifically chosen based on its style which can lead to inspiration for whatever playing, or on my laptop in the living room watching a film.
Are there any homages to other works?
Several, Jareth is a homage to the goblin king from Labyrinth, there's a scene in chapter 6 of Faerie-Tale that references The Terminator films,the demon bull (Gulli) is a reference to Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (fact tidbit, the whole asylum bull battle was originally written as part of a Tomb Raider fan-fic)
I won't list them all, but they're definitely there.
Was the story for Faerie-Tale always the way it was planned?
Pretty much, yeah. Though as I've said before, I never planned for it to be longer than 100 pages, that definitely changed, and the ending was altered but all in all it's pretty close to how I envisioned it.
